First, there were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq and now if Colin Campbell is correct, not as much oil in the Middle East as many us at first thought.
The great irony is to have discovered that fact after the US has spent over $300 billion to establish a military presence in the region.
It is a pity that no one first thought to look at the oil shale deposits in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado where some 750 bbl of oil wait to be extracted from an area more stable politically than Iraq. For a small fraction of what has already been spent in Iraq the US could have established a reliable, domestic source of shale oil production equal to Iraq’s, and not vulnerable to the whims of Islamic fundamentalists.
The age of oil may be half over, as Colin Campbell says, but the second half may last as long as the first, so we need to develop new additional sources of petroleum. The oil shale deposits are in the US, and much of the technology that is being used to extract and process the Canadian tar sands could be applied to those deposits as well. In addition, Shell Oil has developed an in situ conversion process (ICP) which they believe can extract shale oil profitably at around $25/bbl. In fact, Shell Oil has already entered into an agreement with China to extract shale oil form Chinese deposits using Shell’s in situ conversion process.
If China is ready to develop its oil shale deposits, why is the US lagging behind?
Raymond Knowles
New York
